That’s right, you can have a Windows alternative installed in literally a couple of minutes. Their installation tutorial video is less than 2 minutes long. Oh, yeah, you’ll need the Linux feature installed on your Chromebook first. That basically involves heading over to their download page, downloading it, and double-clicking the Linux package.

You’d be making a positive impact on both the product and upstream Wine project! Otherwise, they offer a no-strings-attached 14-day trial or you can help support the Wine developers directly by purchasing a yearly subscription.ĬodeWeavers recently posted a video on their YouTube channel describing how to install CrossOver for Chrome OS. That sounds like a win-win to me! Get a free high-quality product, try the latest features first, and feel good about yourself contributing back to the product. The catch is that you have to occasionally provide feedback on upcoming releases. Although it is a paid product, you can get it for free by signing up to be a beta tester.

Why should you consider CrossOver? You get support, it’s cheaper than Parallels for Chrome OS and doesn’t require the hassle of enterprise licenses for Chrome OS, and it provides great integration with Chrome OS. They’ve also done an amazing job in the Apple ecosystem by making their product run on 64-bit only macOS systems and also run on the new M1 processor. A big focus for them is making sure software that businesses need on a daily basis, such as the Microsoft Office suite, work on Linux. Where Proton shines at making games work, CrossOver shines at making productivity tools work. Check out all the new updates in CrossOver 21 over on the CodeWeavers blog. Installation is easier, compatibility has gotten a lot better, and even the user interface has received some more polish. A lot of changes have been made under-the-hood since we last had a look at CrossOver just 4 years ago. They have moved to having it instead run in the Linux (Crostini) environment which provides an enhanced experience. Thankfully the janky old days of CrossOver running on Chromebooks through limited Android integration is now behind us. It’s a commercial product from CodeWeavers, the developers behind Wine and Proton, which allows Windows applications and games to run natively on Linux and macOS. It’s been a while since we’ve touched on CrossOver.

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